l*lioto by George Shiras, 3rd 



THE AUTOMATIC I^I.ASHI,IGHT APPARATUS IMPROVE:d BY AN AIR PUMP 



The pump operates the shutters of one, two, or three cameras as the flash is fired. 

 Patented by the author's guide, J. H. Hammer, in 1903. A picture of this apparatus in use 

 is shown on page 801. The author considers this the most reliable method yet devised. 



equally young shooting companion and I 

 agreed to only use a rifle, just as a little 

 later we spared does and fawns in night 

 shooting. With the opening up of 

 northern Michigan by several lines of 

 railway came the market-hunter, and so 

 destructive was his use of the jack-light, 

 both in a canoe or as a headlight on a 

 blazed trail — many killing lOO to 200 

 deer in the early fall months — that it 

 soon became apparent, in the absence of 

 prohibitory legislation, the deer were 

 doomed, especially since most of those 

 killed at night were does. 



Before any legislation had prohibited 

 fire-hunting in Michigan I had given it 

 up and assisted in the movement to end 

 such slaughter. 



Still later, when the time came that I 

 preferred hunting with the camera, I 

 often felt how unfortunate it was, after 

 an unsuccessful day with the camera, 

 either by reason of cloudy weather or 

 inability to locate any deer, that I could 

 not go out after dark and get deer pic- 



tures under the jack-light with the same 

 ease that I formerly got their carcasses. 

 Then, too, there is a peculiar and 

 never-ending fascination in canoeing at 

 night, when the evening stillness brings 

 to the keen ear the crooning of the por- 

 cupine, the chirping of the cricket, the 

 gentle croaking of the frog, or the soft 

 flutter of an owl circling on wings of 

 velvet. When a muskrat jumps off a 

 log or a pickerel in the shallow water 

 darts against the side of the boat, one 

 gives an involuntary start at sounds 

 magnified a dozen times by the high ten- 

 sion of the watcher. To the straining 

 eye of the one in the bow, confined to 

 the diverging avenue of light cast by the 

 jack-light revolving on its staff, the over- 

 hanging branches and the bleached or 

 gnarled trunks assume weird shapes, 

 and when finally there is detected the in- 

 termittent swish-swish-swish of a deer 

 wading knee deep here and there in 

 search of tender roots, one tries to pierce 

 the darkness ahead for the first faint 



773 



